Wastewater treatment process basins

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the invention describe wastewater treatment process basins included in containers consistent with an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) specification for intermodal containers. Said basin may further include a corrosion resistant liner coupled to interior portions of each of the base and side walls of the basin and an inlet/outlet to receive/output wastewater treatment process material. 
     It is to be understood that embodiments of the invention may function as various components and sub-components of a wastewater treatment processing plant including, but not limited to, equalization tanks, anoxic basins, aeration basins, anaerobic basins, emergency overflow basins, aerobic digester basins, membrane bioreactor (MBR) basins and waste activated sludge storage. Embodiments of the invention may also be used in military emergency wastewater management, water storage, satellite treatment facilities, FEMA emergency water and wastewater management as well as other reusable water management applications.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application claims priority to Provisional Application No. 61/253,586 filed Oct. 21, 2009 and entitled WASTEWATER TREATMENT PROCESS BASINS UTILIZING ISO STANDARD SHIPPING CONTAINERS, HIGH DENSITY POLYURETHANE AND POLY-VINYL CHLORIDE BASED LINING.

FIELD

Embodiments of the invention pertain generally to wastewater treatment and more particularly to apparatuses and systems incorporating modular wastewater treatment process basins.

BACKGROUND

Basins used in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are typically constructed out of concrete. Concrete based structures are expensive in terms of the material used and the amount of labor required for construction. Non-concrete WWTP basins are made of similarly expensive material, such as stainless steel.

Current WWTP basins are custom made for their respective WWTP, and their volume is not scalable. As a result, basins have to be designed to not only accommodate the respective region's current demand, but any foreseeable increased demand. This increases the cost required to construct and maintain the basin.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following description includes discussion of figures having illustrations given by way of example of implementations of embodiments of the invention. The drawings should be understood by way of example, and not by way of limitation. As used herein, references to one or more “embodiments” are to be understood as describing a particular feature, structure, or characteristic included in at least one implementation of the invention. Thus, phrases such as “in one embodiment” or “in an alternate embodiment” appearing herein describe various embodiments and implementations of the invention, and do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment. However, they are also not necessarily mutually exclusive.

FIG. 1 is a top-view illustration of an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side-view illustration of an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is side-view illustration of an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a sub-system of a wastewater processing system utilizing an embodiment of the invention.

Descriptions of certain details and implementations follow, including a description of the figures, which may depict some or all of the embodiments described below, as well as discussing other potential embodiments or implementations of the inventive concepts presented herein. An overview of embodiments of the invention is provided below, followed by a more detailed description with reference to the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention relate to basins for wastewater treatment processes. According to embodiments of the invention, said basins are included in containers consistent with International Organization for Standardization (ISO) specifications for intermodal containers (e.g., Technical Specification for Steel Dry Cargo Container, Spec. No. ITRU-40′-SA, Jun. 12, 2001). Lining portions of the interior of an ISO container with a corrosion resistant liner may form a basin to hold wastewater process material.

It will be understood, in view of the example embodiments described below, that embodiments of the invention provide an inexpensive solution for wastewater treatment basins due to the reduced costs of materials, ease of transport, and modular functions of said basins. The portable nature of the steel cargo container and the thickness of the steel ensure that embodiments of the invention may withstand extreme weather conditions (hot and cold) and may be transported without damage.

FIG. 1 is a top-view illustration of an embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, intermodal container 100 is consistent with any ISO specification—e.g., container 100 may be a steel dry cargo container ISO 1 AA type 40′×8′×8′6″ or 20′×8′×8′6″. In this embodiment, the interior of container 100 forms basin 110. In other embodiments, a wastewater treatment basin may be included in container 100, but said basin's shape and volume may be independent of the dimensions of container 100.

FIG. 1 illustrates container 100 from a “top view,” thus illustrating side walls 120-123 and gravitational bottom (i.e., base) 130. It is to be understood that references to “side walls” and “gravitational bottom” are used simply to distinguish the sides of the containers of the example embodiment. In other embodiments of the invention, the orientation of a container including a wastewater treatment basin may be such that a different side of the container will be the “gravitational bottom.”

In this embodiment, basin 110 is formed by lining the interior of container 100 with corrosive resistant liner 150. In one embodiment, liner 150 is a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) liner. It is to be understood that utilizing an ISO container and PVC material to construct a wastewater treatment basin significantly reduces the costs of said basin compared to materials used in the prior art (e.g., concrete and stainless steel). In one embodiment, liner 150 may be coupled to steel grommets (such as grommet 151), which are further fastened to the steel hooks (such as hook 152) on the inside of container 100. The steel hooks may be welded to the inside of sidewalls 120-123 at the gravitational top of container 100.

Container 100 further includes inlet 160 and outlet 170. In this embodiment, inlet 160 and outlet 170 are two circular holes cut into container sidewalls 121 and 122, respectively, and the corresponding portions of liner 150 to accommodate inlet and outlet pipes 161 and 171. Thus, wastewater will flow in and out of the basin 100 via pipes 161 and 171. The inlet and outlet pipes may be secured to sidewalls 121 and 122 of container 100 by welding flanged L shaped pipe rings (e.g., pipe ring 173) to the interior and exterior of said container sidewalls.

It is to be understood that in other embodiments, an inlet and an outlet for the basin may be any opening that allows wastewater treatment process material to enter and exit the basin. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the inlet/outlet of a basin may be a single access point of the basin (e.g., an exposed portion of a gravitational top of a basin may function as both an inlet and an outlet).

Inlet pipe 161 and outlet pipe 171 may each be a high-density poly-ethylene (HDPE) pipe. The HDPE pipes may be inserted into pipe rings and held in place in the pipe rings by attaching the HDPE flanges (e.g., flange 172) to the HDPE pipe using socket fusion welding. HDPE flanges may be attached to a flanged pipe ring (e.g., pipe ring 173) with screws which may be collectively underneath liner 150. The perimeter of inlet 160 and outlet 170 may be secured to their respective HDPE pipes using a rubber gasket and an aluminum fastener (e.g., fastener 164) on the interior side of liner 150.

FIG. 2 is a side-view illustration of an embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, gravitational top of steel cargo container 200 may be articulated to create not only an additional height of said container, but also an additional volume for basin 210. Such articulation may be made possible by cutting the top of container 200 to function as sidewall extension units 240 and 245. In this embodiment, said sidewall extension units are be held in place by steel support beams 230 to extend side walls 221 and 222.

These combined components create sealed basin 210 that may be water tight, structurally sound and that may withstand both the water pressure and the abrasive materials found in wastewater material flows. As described above, embodiments of the invention may utilize HDPE and PVC materials to provide robust connections between inflow and outflow pipes and use rubber gaskets in order to provide tight fitting seals with little or no leakage. It is to be understood that the use of the gravitational top of container 200 as sidewall extension material eliminates substantial costs of production for increasing wastewater processing capabilities of basin 210.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the orientation of container 300 is such that the gravitational top of said container includes loading doors 310 and 315, which may function as sidewall extension units for sidewalls 321 and 322, respectively.

It is to be understood that, in view of the examples above, embodiments of the invention may function as various components and sub-components of a WWTP including, but not limited to, equalization tanks, anoxic basins, aeration basins, anaerobic basins, emergency overflow basins, aerobic digester basins, membrane bioreactor (MBR) basins and waste activated sludge storage. In addition, embodiments of the invention may also be used in military emergency wastewater management, water storage, satellite treatment facilities, FEMA emergency water and wastewater management as well as other reusable water management applications. It is to be further understood that embodiments of the invention may function as a standalone container or may include an integrated multi-function WWTP system.

FIG. 4 illustrates a sub-system of a WWTP system utilizing an embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, sub-system 400 includes containers 410 and 420 operatively coupled via inlet/outlet pipes 432. Said containers may be further coupled to other wastewater system components via inlet/outlet pipes 431 and 433.

Containers 410 and 420 may be any basins included in ISO containers as described above. Said containers may act in concert to perform the same wastewater management function (e.g., containers 410 and 420 may function together as equalization basins), may each perform a separate function (e.g., container 410 may function as an aeration tank and container 420 may function as a membrane basin), or may each perform a plurality of functions.

Thus, it is to be understood that embodiments of the invention enable a modular design approach for WWTP systems by subdividing said systems into smaller parts which may be easily manufactured and transported. For example, in the event increased basin capacity is desired, additional containers may be inexpensively added to meet the demand. Furthermore, WWTP components according to embodiments of the invention may be independently created and replaced, thereby reducing the labor and costs associated with lifetime maintenance of a WWTP.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications and changes may be made to the example embodiments above without departing from the scope of the claimed invention. It will, of course, be understood that modifications of the invention, in its various aspects, will be apparent to those skilled in the art, some being apparent only after study, others being matters of routine mechanical, chemical and electronic design. Other embodiments are possible, their specific designs depending upon the particular application. As such, the scope of the invention should not be limited by the particular embodiments herein described but should be defined only by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.

Methods and processes, although shown in a particular sequence or order, unless otherwise specified, the order of the actions may be modified. Thus, the methods and processes described above should be understood only as examples, and may be performed in a different order, and some actions may be performed in parallel. Additionally, one or more actions may be omitted in various embodiments of the invention; thus, not all actions are required in every implementation. Other process flows are possible. 

1. An apparatus comprising: a container consistent with an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) specification for intermodal containers; a basin included in the container, the basin to include a base and a plurality of side walls; a corrosion resistant liner coupled to interior portions of each of the base and side walls of the basin; an inlet to receive wastewater treatment process material into the basin; and an outlet to output wastewater treatment process material from the basin.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, the basin further comprising a top opposite the base, the corrosion resistant liner further coupled to an interior portion of top of the basin.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, the top to include: a first and a second sidewall extension unit, each side wall extension unit to increase interior volume of the basin.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, the corrosion resistant liner to comprise polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the inlet comprises an inflow pipe.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the inflow pipe comprises a high-density poly-ethylene (HDPE) pipe extending into the interior of the basin and from the exterior of the basin and through the corrosion resistant liner of at least one of the base and side walls of the basin.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the outlet comprises an outflow pipe.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the outflow pipe comprises an HDPE pipe extending from the interior of the basin and to the exterior of the basin and through the corrosion resistant liner of at least one of the base and side walls of the basin.
 9. A system comprising: a basin including a base and a plurality of side walls, the basin included in a container consistent with an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) specification for intermodal containers; a corrosion resistant liner coupled to interior portions of each of the base and side walls of the basin; an inlet to receive wastewater treatment process material into the basin; and an outlet to output wastewater treatment process material from the basin.
 10. The system of claim 9, further comprising an additional basin included in an additional container, consistent with the ISO specification for intermodal containers, to receive the wastewater treatment process material from the basin of the container.
 11. The system of claim 9, further comprising an additional basin included in an additional container, consistent with the ISO specification for intermodal containers, to output the wastewater treatment process material to the basin of the container.
 12. The system of claim 9, the basin further comprising a top opposite the base, the corrosion resistant liner further coupled to an interior portion of top of the basin.
 13. The system of claim 12, the top to include a first and a second sidewall extension unit, each side wall extension unit to increase interior volume of the basin.
 14. The system of claim 9, the corrosion resistant liner to comprise polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
 15. The system of claim 9, wherein the inlet comprises an inflow pipe.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the inflow pipe comprises a high-density poly-ethylene (HDPE) pipe extending into the interior of the basin and from the exterior of the basin and through the corrosion resistant liner of at least one of the base and side walls of the basin.
 17. The system of claim 9, wherein the outlet comprises an outflow pipe.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the outflow pipe comprises an HDPE pipe extending from the interior of the basin to the exterior of the basin and through the corrosion resistant liner of at least one of the base and side walls of the basin. 